For Rangers fans in recent years, there have been many dark days, but Saturday’s events rank with any of them.

The analysis of the football is for another day with there being more pressing issues to resolve.

Let’s be absolutely clear, when Hibs scored the winner in injury time, shortly followed by the final whistle, the expected outpouring of joy at winning their first Scottish cup for 114 years instead materialised as a bizarre venom filled attempt to start a riot, with Rangers players attacked, and thousands of Hibs fans leaving their own support in their “end” of the ground, to attack and provoke the Rangers support.

Given that there were an equal amount of fans in the ground, it is remarkable that only a couple of hundred from the Rangers end reacted to the vile attacks on players. The Hibs fans were taking liberties, and while the vast majority of Rangers fans placed their trust in Police to get the Hibs fans under control, a small amount of Rangers fans clearly assessed fairly quickly that they had to take matters in to their own hands.

Not many will say this, but those fans who ran on under extreme provocation to protect their own players, and do the police’s job for them to move the Hibs hooligans back in to their own half despite being outnumbered by at least 20 to 1 should not be condemned by anyone.

Those at home, watching on BBC Scotland may well be wondering what all the fuss is about, as the national broadcaster completely failed to capture the disorder as it unfolded, seemingly losing the ability to press zoom on any of their cameras.

Fortunately, some of the journalists in the press box and fans still in their seats were more alert, and captured footage on social media showing the Hibs fans shaming Scotland. At this point I would plead that any Rangers supporter who has captured any footage should submit it to Police Scotland, in order that the hooligans responsible face justice.

For the first time in a generation, Rangers press releases have defended the support, and called out the sheer hypocrisy and lack of professionalism at the SFA, Scottish Government, and Police Scotland. The club should be thanked for finally seeing what we see, and using their influence to attack the culture of Anti Rangers hatred in Scotland. Other board representatives in the past have played at this, but this board is for real, and I have no doubts that in Dave King we have a leader willing and able to take the necessary steps for as long as it takes for our club and our support to be treated with the level of respect we deserve.

Rangers deserve an apology and an explanation as to why this was allowed to happen, and what is going to be done about it, and why the SFA sent someone down to the Rangers dressing room to unceremoniously hand all the medals to Ryan Hardie to pass to his team mates.

If Nicola Sturgeon, or Rod Petrie believe that Dave King will let this go, they are in for a rude awakening.

The authorities in Scotland are at a crossroads here; they need to display professionalism, leadership, and an ability to be objective, or they risk losing any trust with hundreds of thousands of Rangers fans across Scotland. Scotland is supposed to be a modern progressive country, where the public can trust elected officials and the national police force to do their jobs.

If they can’t be trusted, what’s the alternative? Do we really want to be in a situation where people feel that their only option to see justice done, is to do it themselves?

When there are pictures emerging of Police standing on the track at Hampden with their hands behind their backs as the Hibs fans stormed the field, or standing filming the Rangers support in the stands while mayhem was ensuing behind them serious questions need to be asked.

Is this incompetence, or something else?

Why are Rangers seen as fair game by many in Scotland? Is it good old fashioned jealousy, or driven by other motives? Are we fair game due to Sectarian motives, or as the most visible face of Unionism in Scotland?

The Rangers support is a broad church, but we are under attack from the SNP Scottish Government, the SFA and the Media, and it’s time that Rangers supporters with any association to any of these groups take a step back and assess their peers in these areas. Do your peers, or political heroes mean more to you than Rangers?

These are not normal questions, and should not be the type of question any Rangers fan should ever have to consider, but this is the situation here and now, and being in denial about it won’t change it.

Many across the country are at a crossroads today, and the decisions people take over the next 24 hours will indicate if Scotland is a mature and sensible country or not. Let’s hope sense prevails.